Interesting news for all those interested in the Medicaid program:
A federal advisory panel says that long-term care for aging baby boomers threatens to bankrupt Medicaid, and it recommends sweeping changes to rein in costs, including greater use of managed care for the sickest Medicaid recipients.
The proposals set up a likely clash between the new Democratic Congress and the Bush administration, which has sent strong signals that it will seek big savings in Medicaid next year.
Panel members adopted the recommendations last week, by a vote of 11 to 1, and are drafting a report to be submitted next month to Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services. Mr. Leavitt created the panel in May 2005 and is receptive to many of its proposals.
The panel, known as the Medicaid Commission, said states should have more freedom to alter benefits and eligibility for the program, which serves more than 50 million low-income people.
Moreover, it said states should be allowed to enroll some of the sickest Medicaid recipients, including nursing home residents and people with disabilities, in managed care plans.
The panel said such plans “would provide a medical home and better coordinated care� for people entitled to both Medicaid and Medicare. Care is often fragmented now because Medicaid pays nursing homes while Medicare is the primary payer for doctors and hospitals, and in many cases “clinical data is not shared,� the panel said.
Democrats are already dismissive of the conclusions. Representative John D. Dingell (Michigan) said that the panel is nothing more but “a hand-picked commission stacked against working families.�
Senator Max Baucus of Montana joined the fun by saying that the conclusions of the panel, if implemented, will make it more difficult for struggling individuals to get by.
I wonder what you all think of it. It seems to me that there are good reasons to favor a reform of the Medicaid program. We have – by the way – the same problem here with baby-boomers soon to retire (or already retired). We had to reform our health care system as well and did so last year or the year before.
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